"It will grow and bloom in an aquarium or a pond, is shade tolerant, but will live in partial sun, and it reseeds freely. Can be grown in small barrel ponds on warm patios, or in well lit terrariums. Winter hardy in USDA Zones 8-11.

It will tolerate some sun, but does not appreciate full sun. It is a charming little thing that can naturalize in the right pond, springing up at odd intervals." - pondplants.com

" If apartment living has thwarted your wish to have a water lily I suggest you try this plant. You couldn't grow any other Water Lily on a windowsill." - Sterling Sharp.

From the Nymphaea minuta species description:
"The senior authors' long-time interest and expertise in the cultivation, research, and identification of waterlilies has occasioned the present paper. The junior author collected seeds from Madagascar that were subsequently grown at the International Waterlily Preservation Repository in San Angelo, Texas. Upon examination of these garden-grown plants, it became apparent that the material concerned represented an undescribed taxon, the description of which follows.

Nymphaea minuta K. Landon, R.A. Edwards & P.I. Nozaic, sp. nov. (Figs. 1-4).
Type: MADAGASCAR: near village of Tampolo, Coastal Forest inshaded rain pools (ca. 49°... 26' E, 17° ... 15' S), 1 Jul 1999, P.I. Nozaic s.n. (holotype: TEX)."

Life history of Nymphaea minuta
"Nymphaea minuta in nature is a dwarf with a submerged habit, including small, cleistogamous, submerged flowers. These flowers rarely reach the water surface and apparently are self -fertilized without the sepals opening or exposing the petals. Various species from all subgenera of Nymphaea are self -pollinating, but only N. minuta has been documented to do this underwater. Plants of N minuta in cultivation display both submerged and emergent growth forms, the flowers are chasmogamous and vary from floating on the water to rising above the surface. Floral morphology and color remain constant in all growth forms. In response to changing environmental conditions, an individual plant can switch from one form to the other. During these transitions, intermediate phases with both floating and submerged leaves are produced, along with both emergent and submerged flowers (Fig. 2a, 2b). Light intensity and duration appear to be the controlling factor in these transitions."

"In temperate latitudes, mature plants of Nymphaea minuta exposed to full sun will develop the emergent phase throughout the summer but revert to the submerged phase as the daylight lessens in length and intensity. The same plant often reverts back to the emergent phase the following summer.

Almost all cultivated specimens have been dwarf. However, under cultivation with fertilization and optimum conditions of light and climate, plants have been produced roughly four times larger (including flowers and all vegetative parts of the plants) than the dwarf plants first discovered. Seeds [of cleistogamous and chasmogamous flowers] remain the same size, although the number of seeds produced from the larger flowers and resulting larger fruits, increases proportionally to the rest of the plant. The number of carpels and stamen also increase at the same ratio as the size increase of vegetative parts.

Seedlings produced in full sun in late spring through mid summer will immediately grow into an emergent plant, with floating leaves and flowers at or above the water surface, typical of brachyceras tropicals. Seeds germinated in the late summer or fall will often grow in the submerged form until the following summer or until artificial light of enough intensity and duration are provided, causing the plant to transform into the emergent form. Seedlings grown in shade remain in the submerged phase but continue to grow and produce flowers and fertile fruits.

In chasmogamous flowers, stigmatic fluid is usually produced on the first day of anthesis, and ripe pollen is released. As the fruit ripens, the peduncles bend downward and fruits mature beneath the water surface. As the plants mature, a perennial rhizome is produced. Dormant tubers have been produced in cultivation and would be expected to occur in the wild populations in ephemeral conditions."

"Nymphaea minuta apparently will hybridize with other species and cultivars of subgenus Brachyceras. With N. minuta as pollen donor, cross-pollination was attempted on N. micrantha Guill. & Perr. and N. colorata Peter, and seed development proceeded in normal fashion. Similar results were obtained using three additional cultivars as seed parents. Nymphaea minuta was also used as the seed parent with crosses to hybrids with distinctive features, such as pigmentation on leaves. Further tests must be performed to see if cross-pollination actually occurred (vs. asexual seed development), but both senior authors have progeny from crosses displaying obvious hybridization. Crosses within the subgenus Brachyceras, with resulting progeny displaying obvious characteristics, such a pigmentation on the leaves similar to the pollen parent, provides further evidence this species should be placed within the subgenus Brachyceras."